Hi guys and girls. Ive recently bought dakota a boomer ball as she is in season so im trying to keep her mind off of it. At first she wasnt intrested but now she will chase it and bark. If me or my dad kick it or pick it up she will really franticly bark and try to get at it. Is she playing? Warning us not to touch it? She has never been like this with any of her other toys.

They can be quite possessive over toys dakota sounds like shes just excited and playing get involved in play if you don't want her obsessing over a certain toy after a period of time take the toy away and give it back when shes calm.

Aimee, I think I can reassure you that Dakota is not being aggressive or protective over the boomer. Katy loves to play but I had never seen her go so mad until I bought her a boomer. The noise is unbelievable, barking whimpering when it gets stuck & serious licking. Just wait til Liz comes on she knows the racket they produce

Jenc wrote:Just wait til Liz comes on she knows the racket they produce

Excuse me, Jen. Are you implying that my dogs are in any way shape or form noisy? This isn't with boomer ball but gives you an idea of the noise they can make playing

Different toys can get different dogs excited. Some dogs do bark, it's like saying 'come on, get on with it!!!' or just 'oh wow!!!'. Boomer ball is something else - my guess is that they can't actually pick it up that makes it so exciting. Chaos is obsessive about it and some of the dogs in the rescue centre are the same.

So what I would say is to work on a really solid 'leave it' command (taught by offering something really yummy in exchange for something initially of low value then working up) so that you can take boomer ball away when you want to. And I would also ration it, not only to limit the amount of barking but also do avoid injury. Chaos will carry on to the point of making his nose bleed if we don't take it away

No Liz I wouldn't dream of implying that I can't believe the racket Katy makes on her own I agree limiting the time Dakota plays with it is good as they get overexcited & the ball does gets rough, Katy gets a sore tongue from all the licking

It's the 1st thing Katy looks for in the garden, we have 1 indoors too Thankfully she usually only plays with that when we have visitors but she gets way too loud Oh yes Ian, Koda Luuuvs his boomer too

I think part of it is the frustration that they can't pick it up, my oh asks Katy to fetch it & that makes her more determined to get it But I must say her footwork is amazing & I think she could play for England!!!!!

Thanks for all the replies guys and girls. We are starting to do a 1 day with and 2 days without routine. She seems to be ok with it at the moment. Her behaver does tend to swing abit when she is in season so im not to concerned. She has her frizbees to play with and her tennis ball. Thank you for all the advise, been really helpful

I bought dakota a 8" as it says the ball needs to be bigger then them. She will be a year old at the end of the month but by comparison id say even full grown it will do her. Maybe a 6" for hank? Then when he gets bigger move to a 8"? Here is a picture for you

Dodger has a bigger one for the garden and a smaller one ( though big enough not to fit in his mouth ) for indoors. He goes mad over both and knows what time he'll be getting them too! He won't be fobbed off with anything else! We do have to limit his sessions to about 10 minutes as he'd keep going till he dropped, and we wouldn't have much garden or furniture left intact!

The nose flip?! I think pup is a way off that, but he's a quick learner, he's already learnt the bite it, paw it and hump it. Other tricks in his reportoire include how to get it stuck under a car, how to wind up a mastiff and how to persistently bang it against the fence, I'm sure he'll be nose flipping in no time

Oh dear dakota will have to start practising I think. Her favarite is to bark at it lol. And also to roll it between her legs. Today is one of her calm days. But training will recomence tomorrow mwhahaha